Houston, a major economic hub, is home to the Houston Ship Channel, one of the world’s busiest maritime waterways. Along the Ship Channel are refineries and chemical plants that help make up the nation’s largest refining and petrochemical complex.

But what could happen to the area if a major hurricane hit in just the right spot?

 This hour of Reveal — done in collaboration with The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, which co-produced the “Hell and High Water” multimedia project — looks at a worst-case scenario that scientists say could be coming.

 

Editor’s note: This story is a collaboration between The Texas Tribune, ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism, and Reveal, a public radio show and podcast from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. 

 

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2016/03/05/reveal-radio-mighty-ike-monster-hurricane/.